Deedot Coffee House

It doesn't hurt to venture out a bit from the CBD for brunches and cafes. Try Deedot Coffee House on Logan Road in Holland Park--judging from the small crowd spread out among cute outdoor and semi outdoor tables--its not a bad place at all.

Menu is a bit of everything--they even have a plate on the menu called 'something of everything' or along those lines featuring everything from bircher muesli to avo on toast on the one plate. Servings are generous and yes they do take-away.

I tried their Chia pudding with generous drizzle of honey and loads of  fresh seasonal and slightly exotic fruit. Chia pudding wasn't stodgy and perfect for a hot day's brunch. Will be adding Deedot to the list of go to brunch / cafe places and it's a lot closer to home too.

TimHoWan

What do you do when you just happen to be in town when a Michelin Star Hong Kong yumcha place opens? Got to try of course! Even if you have had it in Hong Kong before. Such is the pull of TimHoWan that I was willing to line up for it again just as I did in Hong Kong.

To be fair, I gave it 30minutes and then decided to come back the next day at 10am when it opened. So did it stack up to Hong Kong?

My memory of TimHoWan in Hong Kong was that it was fabulous but not absolutely amaze balls. I put it down to that everything was so fresh (you order in line so when you sit down your food is right in front of you) that it HAS to taste better than yumcha food thats been stewing in a trolley for most of the morning.

TimHoWan Melbourne opened 2 days before I tried it--still some teething problems with some staff obviously new as the paint and not sure how things worked. Service no where near as fast as Hong Kong but you will get your food--eventually, in dribs and drabs.

THE BBQ Pork bun

Must eat the BBQ pork buns-- nowhere else has them and if the short crispy buttery bun doesn't win you the melt in your mouth sweet pork filling will. As for the other 3 specialities: liver rice vermicelli roll, pan fried turnip cake and steamed egg cake--a small notch above what you find at a mainstream yumcha place with a higher price tag.

Chive and scallop dumplings

Liver rice vermicelli roll 

Dim Sims or sums--which ever you call it--TimHoWan does do them better than other yum cha places with stretchier, more translucent pastry filled with discernible ingredients (in other words visible bits of prawn, scallops, pork)--not your usual mush of possible pork mince and mystery meat.

Yes they do takeaway--as in provide doggy bags for you but no take away direct orders. FYI the buns taste great even after being toted around Melbourne for the rest of the day and reheated in the microwave for a snack at 10pm.

Sometimes there really is not much difference between good and exceptional but if you can --why not go for the exceptional?

Bacchus Southbank

Hotels, especially Rydges isn't the first thing that comes to mind when you think 'fine dining'. Bacchus at Rydges Southbank however is an exception. Clamber up the stairs from the street if you like and you'll find yourself stocked with everything needed for a date  night or any night out.

Gorgeous pool area with bar and lush, gold toned main dining area including high backed leather chairs and a sommelier as bubbly as the champagne he serves. Its hard to create ambience in a restaurant and it's at ambience that Bacchus has done remarkably well. Not too posh to be stuffy with enough warmth to create a place as suitable for a date as it is suitable for a catch up with friends. In our case it was double date night.

While most Brisbanites may have noticed Bacchus for their high teas and dessert degustation the savouries are well worth a visit. Menu is well designed with something for even the most casual and less adventurous diners (steak for my friend who is your 'meat and 3 veg kinda gal) mixed with some more 'fancy' touches (foie gras). I don't often go for vegetarian and yes there is foam but the traditional wild mushroom wholemeal gnocchi was a standout. Don't skip the  fresh herbed bread and accompanying olive tampenade as it is sensational and could stand on its own as a starter. Fantastic options for gluten free as well--can't ask for much better than plump sweet well seared scallops with tender octopus.

Scallops and Octopus 

Top: Souffle Bottom: wild mushrrom gnocci

At our insistence our friends saved room for dessert and weren't disappointed with the lush souffle. There's always something about a lush chocolate soufflé fresh from the oven and arriving at the table in all its puffed up glory before being dressed in front of you with a hot rich Valrhona chocolate sauce. Decadent but at least a souffle is mostly air so naturally the calorie count I'm sure is quite reasonable.

You can't fault much with Bacchus as it delivers in not just the food but service and the much harder ambience.

Jimmy's on the Mall--Is it a tourist trap?

Every Brisbane local and possibly tourist is familiar with or at least 'sight familiar'--Jimmy's On the Mall. You can't miss it-- it's smack bang in the middle of Queen St Mall and since it's renovations (rumoured $5mil plus) it's turned from few outdoor chairs and tables to this behemoth of vertical gardens, marble benches, modern copper lighting and waiters in stripes.

Classy upgrade--but how's the food? Don't know about other locals but I always thought it would be a) expensive, b) poor quality and c) marketed at tourists. After wondering past daily though-- at least the tourist part seems to be false as I do see a lot of what appears to be locals having food/drinks there--ALOT--good luck getting a table on Friday night when it coincides with CBD late night shopping.

Anyhooo hubby's always wanted to go--sucker for presentation this guy and I wanted a cold beer so somewhere around the frantic hot 2 days before Christmas when we were doing some shopping we had dinner there.

Promptly seated-downstairs-quite busy and noisy-- live music upstairs but seems to be more of a drinking rather than eating scene so downstairs suited us fine. Menu is typical 'Australian'  or in otherwords--disjointed mulit-cultural mix of everything--burgers, chips, Fish and Chips, pasta and a few Asian influenced or Asian dishes--FYI the owner is Asian so that's no surprise. Waitress pushed the specials (Moreton bay bugs with noodles, rice, sweet chilli sauce) but no thanks-- screams tourist.


Settled on the Salt and Pepper calamari for entree, with chips before I ordered the spaghetti with mussels and hubby had some mexican steak dish.
When the food came out we knew for sure it definitely fulfilled criteria a) above--For what it is, it is expensive. Scanty salt and pepper on limpid , semi cold (possibly microwaved) salt and pepper calamari. Chips were ok--but it's chips you can't mess that up even with something more mayonnaise rather than 'aioli'.

Chips, salt and pepper calamari 

Seafood Angelhair pasta 

Some mussels on my angel hair spaghetti wasn't opened --feeling a bit ripped off especially since wasn't much on there in the first place. Flavour of pasta was ok, spaghetti slightly over cooked but still acceptable.

Don't bother with the steak dish--- tough as nails beef and funny sauce reminiscent of tinned mexican chilli soup and possibly frozen veg. So there we go--criteria B--poor quality food ticked.

Steak forgot what it's called don't bother 

While the food may be sub par-- there's definitely a plus to the atmosphere eating semi al fresco in the middle of the mall. Tourist trap? Maybe, for those willing to pay the price. So definitely not a place for regular eating, but if you want to sample the ambience then consider ordering maybe some of the Asian menu items (minus the salt and pepper calamari) and stick to more typical, takeaway fare e.g. fish and chips, burgers--those looked half decent as they sailed by to other tables.

Jamie's Italian Brisbane

The celebrity chef thing really works--if a celebrity chef opens a restaurant in your city--trust me you will go, no matter how much you say you won't.

Jamie's Italian has been open in the Brisbane CBD for over 1 year now, maybe it's me walking past it everyday to get Starbucks or all the initial buzz that was around it--I finally went with hubby after stubbornly saying 'NO' (due to a poor experience in Sydney)

Since it's opening theres been a lot of mixed opinions--from bland food, to cold food to long waits to bad service and again long waits to OMG awesome food. We chose a Sunday afternoon (4:30pm ish) to have an early dinner or late lunch--whatever you call it. You'd think this time would warrant expedient services but nope Jamie's Italian Brisbane's reputation for long waits is definitely well deserved.

We waited so long for our appetiser (crispy porcini arancini) that we had time to look at the decor and come up with reasons as to why the wait was so long? Could it be those ridiculous stairs the staff have to climb to get access to the kitchen? Or the floor manager who likes to be texting rather than working?

Soon we were wondering if the meats  and vegetables hanging above the bar counter were real and if we could just eat that--don't bother slicing.

For the record food above the counter is not for eating

I'll say our arachini was delicious -- anything is when you've been waiting 45minutes.

We've tried the polenta chips, squid ink pasta all at the Sydney place and was not impressed by how oily, bland and skimpy the servings were. This time we decided on some meaty goodness with bolognese pasta, prime strip loin steak bundled with chips and a salad. 

Thankfully everything was meaty enough, as you'd expect from a meat sauce and steak. Still, for a guy that says 'punches and loads of flavour' alot-- don't expect the food at this place to deliver these sort of punches--it's better than what we had in Sydney but still on the blander side. 

Portions appear decent and everything was well cooked and hot despite the long wait. So obviously food's not sitting around waiting to be served--maybe it really does take a long time to cook things properly--like 60minutes? Maybe they were making the pasta from scratch and butchering the cow from scratch. Last time I checked, pasta especially fresh, takes less than 5minutes to boil.  

You can't make friends (or customers) with salad. Especially when it arrives 3/4 into the meal and has no flavour

It's a lot harder to take a pretty photo of bolognese especially when you want to inhale it from hunger

Well cooked steak..not worth the wait 

It's easy to see why Jamie Oliver's food is popular ---but I think he should  change the menu at this establishment to one that showcases the 15minute meals. That way, you may get a chance to eat the food within 1 hour of arriving at the restaurant.  They offer free parking now when you eat there on Saturday nights--so I guess you can prepare to spend the night there.

Sin Vida

I truly thought M&A was dying with the closure of Flaming Olive and the disappearing crowds from Papa Jacks, Mighty Mighty and the almost always empty Nikuya--apparently not as this new place was game enough to open on the back of the closed down Italian restaurant.

We were on our way there to try Gorditas when the skeleton (very unanatomically correct) and gaudily dressed caught our eye, oh hard to miss the mass of graffiti-- they really are playing on the sugar skulls theme.

Don't set your hopes too high-- this place isn't Mamasita's in Melbourne nor do I think it's trying to be. This isn't fine dining by any standards--think westernised mexican food with menus full of tacos, nachos etc all the typical stuff.

We thought we'd be adventurous and go outside the usual tacos and nacho cliches. Maybe we should have stuck with those as seafood marina cooked in tomato sauce (yes thats all that Zarzuela de Mariscos is was not impressive with the tinned tomato taste and half the mussels scrawny or unopened.

Zazuela de Marscos--seafood marinara with tinned tomato

 So you can't go wrong with steak right? Only if its the chewy and full of sinew--you got no hope, even if you add a fried egg on top. What's with the halved roma tomatoes in this place? It really was just half a tomato...

Sin Vida Steao--Steak and Eggs --with Mexican mystery sauce

 To be fair the corn (even with its very messy tail) was tasty and chicken wings had enough spice. And yes definitely order the sangria to wash things down. Don't rely on the Calavera (beef bone soup) for that--- it's just concentrated beef stock.

Elote--Char grilled corn 

Chicken Wings

White Sangria

So what's the verdict for Sin Vida? I wish it well, but the food itself isn't going to help it survive. 

 

Restaurant II

So we finally made it here. Over the past 10 years Brisbane's dining scene has come a long way with increased interest and competition. Business is not as easy as it used to be with many supposed 'fine dining' institutions from years past succumbing to increased competition, a more discerning market, economic pressure and bowing eventually out of the dining scene altogether. Some, suffer a lot worse being relegated to the ranks of 'it used to be good'.

Yet--for those who've stayed, it may well just prove that they deserve to be there--Darwinian evolution of the restaurant scene I suppose. So where does Restaurant II fit?

Menu changing seasonally is a good start. Contemporary, elegant decoration --tick. Service? Well I guess the waitstaff do have lives outside of the restaurant --they're not all sommeliers and don't rely on the wine advice--or lack there of.

Between us hubby and I could sample most of the dishes so we decided to give the degustation a miss. The combination of the dishes on the degustation menu were not dishes that we would order off the a-la carte. And personal peeve of hubby's is when the degustation menu is just all the a-lacarte combined--what's the point? the man asks.

Presentation is tight with all the dishes from the complementary canape (forgot what it was) down to the dessert. Timeliness was not a strong point with many tables (especially those eating degust) waiting well past 30minutes between some courses.

My entree of the Mooloolaba tuna showcased the beauty of all the ingredients in harmony but unfortunately the sinew in the tuna was just difficult to saw through.

Mooloolaba tuna with watermelon

Hubby's pork belly with the layers visible looked enticing and lived up to the presentation in taste--exactly what you'd expect--porky poorness.

Pork Belly entree 

The mains showed generous portions and a 'it is what it is' approach. When my lobster arrived there was a collective 'wow' and delight that yes it is genuinely, no messing about, undisguised lobster. Texture of the flesh was not what I expected-- seemed to be a lot more 'frayed? with a processed food texture' rather than firm and sweet meat expected. In a nutshell--croquets are croquets -- not a fan and should be reserved for a food court. Hubby's duck was cooked wonderfully but in the end he commented 'this is just duck with orange'--yes dear it is, but the meat was cooked nicely.

Duck 

Lobster with Jamon croquettes 

Dessert menu had a few proven crowd pleasers-- fondant, creme brûlée..Meal ended on a high with familiar desserts executed perfectly. Oozy chocolate fondant anyone? Banana had a rich dark caramelised top. Bacon ice cream with creme brûlée?sure , especially when accompanied with a piece of salty crispy bacon. 

Proof in the pudding--oozing chocolate fondant

Free standing creme brulee with bacon ice cream

It's not surprising Restaurant II has managed to stay in the business through the years. Ingredients, reputation, past achievement all helps but the key ingredient to success remains to continuously improve and refine--I for one, hope Restaurant II continues to do that (especially more of the refine).